Rare Color Film of U.S. Marines in Combat Emerges (video)

Two thousand hours of film, some never seen before, of U.S. Marines during World War II, Korea and Vietnam is being digitized for future generations. Mark Kelly of the Wall Street Journal reports. Published on Jan 22, 2016

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Cost of Fighting ISIS, Iraq and Afghanistan Comparison

source: Statista

$6.2 billion has been allocated for military operations against the so-called Islamic State, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Most of that, $5.4 billion, was allocated for fiscal year 2015 with the campaign costing an estimated $11 million each day. Even though the conflict in the Afghanistan is winding down, it still cost the U.S. over $35 billion in 2015 while another $30 billion was allocated to a Pentagon "slush fund" not directly related to conflict but used to evade legislated budget caps. Since 2001, a grand total of $715 billion has been spent on the war in Afghanistan while Iraq cost somewhere in the region of $1.64 trillion.


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ISIS Survives on Oil, Farmland, Kidnapping, Theft

Source: Statista

The extensive oil infrastructure across Syria and Iraq has made ISIL, the so-called Islamic State, one of the richest terrorist organisations in history, providing the group with an estimated $500 million every year, according to a recent Bloomberg report. Kidnap and ransom bring in an estimated $45 million each year while foreign donations are worth approximately $5 million. One of the so-called Islamic State's most important resources is seldom mentioned and that's farmland. Fertile agricultural territory controlled by the group across Syria and Iraq could potentially generate over $200 million every year, according to a Thomson Reuters report (pdf).

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US and Coalition Air Strikes in Iraq and Syria Against ISIL

source: Statista

"$6.2 billion has been allocated for military operations against the ISIL, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Most of that, $5.4 billion, was allocated for fiscal year 2015 with the campaign costing an estimated $11 million each day. Even though the conflict in the Afghanistan is winding down, it still cost the U.S. over $35 billion in 2015 while another $30 billion was allocated to a Pentagon "slush fund" not directly related to conflict but used to evade legislated budget caps. Since 2001, a grand total of $715 billion has been spent on the war in Afghanistan while Iraq cost somewhere in the region of $1.64 trillion."

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